Linux on Q60/Q40

This site is dedicated to Linux on Q60/Q40 cards and is maintained by Thierry Godefroy.

All the software available from this page has been compiled on a ShoeString v1.0a (Redhat 7.2.1) Linux-Q60 distribution, and will most probably not work on the old Redhat5.2-based Linux-Q60 distribution. For a start, it is all dynamically linked against glibc v2.1.3.

Packages which version ends with a single number (e.g. package-1.0.0-1.m68k.rpm) were got from the author's site and compiled out of the box.

Packages which version ends with a number followed with "mdk" (e.g. package-1.0.0-1mdk.m68k.rpm) are Linux Mandrake packages compiled out of the box.

Packages which version ends with a number followed with "gdf" (e.g. package-1.0.0-1gdf.m68k.rpm) have been patched by me (the .spec file was changed so to allow a compilation on Q60 Linux and/or some personal patches have been applied to the original sources).

IceWM 1.0.9.2, an excellent and fast window manager (forget about v1.2.x, for it won't compile with glibc v2.1.3, alas):

gaim v0.59.9, an all-in-one Instant Messaging client with support for pretty much all IM protocols (this version is alas deprecated in many ways (Yahoo and MSN protocols, for example), but newer versions require GTK2 :-( ...):

rox-1.2.2-5gdf.m68k.rpm (1126 Kb). Note: rox-base is included in this package (the old rox-base package is deprecated and will get automatically removed if you update from an older rox version).

freetype v1.3.1 & v2.2.1 Updating to these packages is highly recommended because of the many security flaws discovered in the old freetype versions. You will also need these newest packages for xpdf v3. Please note, that because Redhat wrongly packaged the freetype v1 and freetype v2 libraries together, you will need to proceed as follow: make sure that freetype-devel and freetype-utils are uninstalled (rpm -e ...), then update with 'rpm -Uvh --oldpackage freetype-1.3.1-1gdf.m68k.rpm libfreetype6-2.2.1.1gdf.m68k.rpm' (the two packages must be updated together. --oldpackage is there because the Redhat freetype package bears the freetype2 version, while the new package deals with freetype v1). Once this is done, you may install the tools and devel packages if you need them.

mount/losetup updates (for use with the crypto-API empowered kernels):

util-linux-2.11z-10gdf.src.rpm (1345 Kb). Note: if you intend to rebuild the packages yourself, do not install the util-linux-2.11z-10gdf.m68k.rpm binary package: these sources come from the Mandrake distribution and I didn't change the spec file and Makefile to build the same utilities as the ones present in the Redhat's util-linux package: upgrading the Redhat/ShoeString package with the newly built one could result in a broken system ! On the other hand you can, of course, update safely the mount and losetup packages.

Other package updates which are not absolutely necessary, but are better getting updated as they improve performances, fix minor bugs, or cure various compilation problems:

GTK+ v1.2.10 (the GTK+ v1.2.10 libraries are already included in ShoeString, but I'm not sure that they were re-compiled by Richard. Beside, I used more aggressive optimization options for the libraries below, allowing to squeeze out every bit of the 680x0 speed):

tar v1.13.25 This version, beside being more recent than the one in ShoeString, was patched by me so that it will not bitch at you if you use the "I" or "y" options to deal with bzipped archives (<rant>it's amazing how some software authors can be so intolerant about the old users and their habits...</rant>):

autoconf v2.13 and v2.59 (needed to recompile recent software... Beware: installing and making this work can be unnerving... IIRC, I had to patch manually the wrapper scripts for the proper selection of v2.13 or v2.59, depending on which software must be compiled...):

patch-gcc3bug_workaround-2.4.36.bz2 (2 Kb): a work around for the gcc3 bug which prevents to compile the ide-cd.c, ide-tape.c, ide-floppy.c and ide-scsi.c files in the Linux v2.4.33 kernel.

patch-cryptoloop-jari-2.4.36.bz2 (12 Kb): Jari's cryptoloop patch enabling the crypto-API for encrypted volumes mounting (you will need for the losetup-2.11z-10gdf.m68k.rpm and mount-2.11z-10gdf.m68k.rpm packages, available on this page, to make use of the crypto-API).

patch-supermount-2.4.36.bz2 (33 Kb): ever dreamt of using removable media (floppy, cdrom, zips, etc) under Linux like under DOS/Windoze ? This patch is for you. Any supermounted device will automatically recognize the situations when the medium is absent or changed (no more need to mount/umount each time, and no CPU hogs/demons like with automount). Please read the warning below the kernel packages !

patch-stealth-2.4.36.bz2 (3 Kb): the stealth kernel patch makes it harder for pirates to try and hack your Linux box from the network. It drops bogus packets and queries, logging each attack.

PrecompiledLinux kernel (with the above patches included). Don't forget to copy /boot/vmlinux-2.4.36.6 into a SMSQ/E partition so you can boot your new kernel from SMSQ/E...

There seems to be a quirk in the rc.sysinit script of ShoeString and inserting the usual lines in /etc/fstab for mounting supermount devices makes the startup script to hang the computer. Even with a kernel without supermount support, it will hang (which means you'll have to change back the /etc/fstab file after booting on another partition or on a rescue disk... You have been warned !!!). To mount the removable media devices with supermount, you can instead add lines to /etc/rc.d/rc.local, like this:

modutils-2.4.26-3gdf.m68k.rpm (272 Kb): you will have to force-remove mkinitrd (rpm -e --nodeps mkinitrd) before installing this one, because the lack of a file (crtbeginT.o) in the gcc 3.0 rpm package of Shoestring prevented me to compile the static version of insmod, needed by mkinitrd... But as no one would use mkinitrd on a Q40/Q60 (do you ?), it should not be a big issue... :-P